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Respectful Insolence is a repository for the ramblings of the aforementioned pseudonymous surgeon/scientist concerning medicine and quackery, science and pseudoscience, history and pseudohistory, politics, and anything else that interests him (or pushes his buttons). Orac's motto: "A statement of fact cannot be insolent." (OK, maybe it can be just a little bit insolent.)

More uses for a light saber

With the release of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith only one week away, I have to admit I'm starting to get a little bit excited about it. As a big fan of the original three movies (I saw the first showing of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi the days they were released in 1980 and 1983), I was quite disappointed in the prequels. The last two movies were mediocre (worse, parts of Episode II were actually kind of dull--a mortal sin for any Star Wars movie); but, geek that I am, I have to confess that the trailer for Episode III looks very promising, as does the description of the movie in the latest Time Magazine. Do I dare hope that George Lucas, after two misfires, has finally delivered the goods and produced a worthy successor to the original movies? (If only he hadn't bothered with Episodes I and II. And if only he could have left well enough alone and not tinkered with the original three movies to turn them into "special editions.")

So, given my Star Wars geekiness (although, thankfully, I'm nowhere near as bad as these geeks), it's only natural that, via Keat's Telescope, I would be amused by these additional uses for a light saber (and more here). I could think of yet a few more (lighting charcoal grills, for instance), but this will do for now.

And don't forget to check out how Darth Vader reacted to Luke's escape at the end of Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back or how he likes to deal with labor unrest among the contractors building the second Death Star. I wonder how much longer Darth Vader's blog can continue, given that he's now entering into Episode VI territory.

Orac is but a humble pseudonymous surgeon/scientist with an ego just big enough to delude himself that someone, somewhere might actually give a rodent's posterior about his miscellaneous verbal meanderings, but just barely small enough to admit to himself that few will. That Orac has chosen his pseudonym based on a rather cranky and arrogant computer shaped like a clear box of blinking lights from an old British SF show whose special effects were renowned for their early 1980's BBC/Doctor Who-style low budget look, but whose stories nonetheless resulted in some of the best, most innovative science fiction for television ever produced, should tell you nearly all that you need to know about Orac. (That, and the length of the preceding sentence.) Orac tries to keep his insolence respectful, but admittedly sometimes fails in the cases of obvious quackery and pseudoscience, attacks on him, very poor critical thinking skills, bigotry, and just general plain stupidity.